While riding home Marvez had Hobs on for an interview. Nothing earth shattering, but here are some takes (admittedly drawing conclusions on some of these):

Seemed to indicate that Pacman was a bigger signing than George. Called Pacman the "man we had to get" and refered to George as a "starting Safety"

Said we lost MLJ by a whisker and only because he wanted to be a #1; the only thing we didn't offer.

Took LeFell because of versatility (slot and outside)

Called LaFell and Dansby "Bridge players"

Feels one of Dansby's roles is to mentor PJ Lawson,  Says team is high om PJ

Doesn't think the team believes WR is a must need

Honestly thinks we will go BPA at a premiere position at RD 1; even mentioned Zeke if he is there

Apparently a big Syracuse fan.

Some are calling Zeke the best RB prospect in the last 5 years. If he fell to us, I wouldn't be upset taking him. He's not falling to us and they better have a plan to make sure that run blocking is a whole hell of a lot better than 2015.

If they take Zeke.... MONSTER move. I would love it.

Run the ball like a boss, let GIO slide into the slot role, and D up.

Hammer or the nail? Bug or the Windshield?

We know which one the Bengals would be.

I'll be pissed if we take a RB in the first round.

Even if Zeke would be an upgrade it would be a small upgrade. we have much bigger needs elsewhere.

(04-02-2016, 02:20 PM)ItsOdellThurman Wrote: Some are calling Zeke the best RB prospect in the last 5 years. 

Since Trent Richardson, right?

Zeke will not translate to the NFL...book it. He is a byproduct of a scheme and deception and is not very good at catching the ball out of the backfield. If they take him with one of Fuller, Coleman or Doctson on the board I would be pissed!

Bfine gave a good summation. Not to be "that guy", but it was Vic Carucci and Dan Leberfeld hosting. No mention of Reggie Nelson either. Is he still alive?

"Team doesn't think WR is a need"

Ummm. But it is?

"George is just a starting safety"

Ummm. But he's actually one of the best young safeties out there?

"Zeke in the 1st ro-"

Would be a stupid draft choice while looking at our roster.

But on the bright side, take everything Hobs says with a grain of salt.

He talked about drafting Jordan Philips in his mock draft quite a few times and emphasized on it. But they didn't take one until their comp pick in the 4th round.

What if they drafted Zeke and traded Hill for a 4th?

(04-02-2016, 03:20 PM)BigRed75 Wrote: Zeke will not translate to the NFL...book it.  He is a byproduct of a scheme and deception and is not very good at catching the ball out of the backfield. If they take him with one of Fuller, Coleman or Doctson on the board I would be pissed!

You lost all credibility when you said he isn't good catching the ball out of the backfield. Clearly you saw the combine and have not watched him play at all. Zeke is a very balanced back, great blocker, pass catcher, has power and speed. He's a guy that will consistently get 4-5 yards and wear a defense down then bust a huge one. He's not a guy that gets2-3 yards then the big run either which is very important. That extra yard or 2 he gets per play is what separates the good from the great. Zeke will be a monster.

Not to mention you knock a RB for his pass catching abilities but then throw out there 2 WR's who can barely catch a pass lmao

(04-02-2016, 03:26 PM)PDub80 Wrote: What if they drafted Zeke and traded Hill for a 4th?

Still using a first round pick for only a slight upgrade when we have bigger needs elsewhere.

If they really think that WR isn't a priority, then they learned nothing from 2014.

As for Elliott, if he's there (I highly highly doubt he will be) then you take him. Gio is in his contract year, and you don't know what you actually have with Hill. Is he the RB of that 9 game stretch, or is he the RB of the other 25 games? Lock up a RB who I think will be a beast for 5 years, and see if someone out there wants to trade for Hill. That said, I think it's kind of a moot point because I doubt he gets even close to where the Bengals pick.

(04-02-2016, 03:26 PM)PDub80 Wrote: What if they drafted Zeke and traded Hill for a 4th?

Why would you trade a very talented running back who accounted for over 2,000 yards and 21 total TDs (20 rushing) in his first 2 seasons? Who, by the way, only started 23 games.

I'm not trading Hill for a 4th round pick. That's a big loss on our end. He's worth more than a 4th rounder and we have much bigger needs.

We have Hill and Gio. A duo that accounted for over 1,800 rushing yards their first season together and 14 total rushing touchdowns and over 1,500 rushing yards their second year together with 13 rushing touchdowns. That's over 3,000 total yards rushing and 27 rushing touchdowns between two running backs in two years. That's actually really good.

Throw in the passing game. That brings in over 1,100 yards and 3 more touchdowns.

So, altogether, that's over 4,400 total yards and 30 TDs in just two years between two running backs. One played two years in the NFL, the other played three.

(04-02-2016, 03:56 PM)wolfkaosaun Wrote: Why would you trade a very talented running back who accounted for over 2,000 yards and 21 total TDs (20 rushing) in his first 2 seasons? Who, by the way, only started 23 games.

I'm not trading Hill for a 4th round pick. That's a big loss on our end. He's worth more than a 4th rounder and we have much bigger needs.

We have Hill and Gio. A duo that accounted for over 1,800 rushing yards their first season together and 14 total rushing touchdowns and over 1,500 rushing yards their second year together with 13 rushing touchdowns. That's over 3,000 total yards rushing and 27 rushing touchdowns between two running backs in two years. That's actually really good.

Throw in the passing game. That brings in over 1,100 yards and 3 more touchdowns.

So, altogether, that's over 4,400 total yards and 30 TDs in just two years between two running backs. One played two years in the NFL, the other played three.

Isn't this the same logic that would have stopped the Bengals from taking Eifert? The Bengals had Gresham and had never really utilized a 2 TE system in the passing game. Yet, they took him even with Gresham, a former 1st rounder who still had two years left on his deal. It was for depth at a position where some people thought the Bengals were well off and "good enough". Yet.... Eifert is MUCH better. Clearly nobody would change that pick if they could go back except for the teams in front of the Bengals.

This is the LAST year on Gio's rookie deal and Hill will have 1 more year left after this season. Hill's production took a nose dive last season.... which is why you combined the season totals.


It isn't THAT illogical. The Bengals are STACKED DEEP all over the roster with good contracts all over the field. NFL.com has Elliot as the 4th highest rated guy on their big board out of all players. THAT would be the best talent they could take and would also give them room to wiggle in a trade or free up contract $ in the future by letting a RB go.

Makes perfect sense.

Hobson's not kidding anyone. We're drafting a WR or 2 in 2016. He is right that Lafell is a bridge player, more than Dansby. We don't need a new RB to improve our run game; we need a center. I'd be fine with drafting (as Hammerstripes does in his latest mock) Kelly the center from Alabama at #24 and then Sterling Shepard or Michael Thomas in Round 2. We could still get a decent NT in round 3 or 4, though not the dominant type presence we might want to bolster our pass rush.

But I doubt that Paul Alexander will want them to give up on Bodine. So, we'll probably see a WR in 1 and BPA in 2. Personally, I wouldn't mind if we took WRs in 1 & 2. Grouping Coleman/Doctson/Fuller and Shepard/Thomas with AJ and Eifert would be ridiculously good for our offense.

I know that would mean passing up on alot of talent that would benefit our pass rush and overall defense, but the WR talent beyond the 3rd round this year looks really spotty to me. Day 2 players at DT (Day, Reader, and others) are a little stronger.

One thing we do know, we will stick to our board, which ought to look something like this in terms of our priorities.

Rounds 1-2 WR, DE, DT, OLB, CB
Rounds 3-4 DT, C, ILB, OLB, SS, WR
Rounds 5 & 6 RB, OG, FS
Round 7 ??? BPA

Best Available Player...seemed to be the theme, and so far working well for the organization. So, so glad we are not the Browns who need every available position filled...

(04-02-2016, 05:17 PM)CINwillWIN Wrote: Best Available Player...seemed to be the theme, and so far working well for the organization. So, so glad we are not the Browns who need every available position filled...

The whole BPA thing is waaaaay overused. Nobody really takes it seriously, you need a position filled, you find the guy who can fill it. They needed a CB? They drafted Dre. They needed an OL? They drafted Cedric. They thought they might need another OL because who knows when Whit's play will decline? They drafted Fisher. They needed a RB? They drafted Gio/Hill.

Sure the picks were probably also of good value, but I doubt they were literally the best player available at the time. Otherwise the Bengals would end up with 7 Quarterbacks, 12 Defensive Tackles, 6 Punters, and 5 Kickers on their roster. All BPA means is... "We drafted this guy because we thought we might need him, so now we're going to say later he was the highest rated player on our board. We can say this every single time because you don't know what our board was."

Completely disagree with the poster who said Elliot won't translate to the NFL, and doesn't catch the ball well. That's just insane.

However, I wouldn't draft him either, probably, mostly because of greater needs.

I also think the team is wrong if they think they don't need to draft a wide receiver in the first. C'mon, man! All those threats last year is what made our offense so hard to handle.

I guess I could stomach it if we took one hell of a defensive lineman first, and then traded up to get one of the best receivers still out there. But if we don't get a good wide receiver, we're one AJ Green injury away from running in mud, offensively.

(04-02-2016, 02:08 PM)bfine32 Wrote: While riding home Marvez had Hobs on for an interview. Nothing earth shattering, but here are some takes (admittedly drawing conclusions on some of these):

Seemed to indicate that Pacman was a bigger signing than George. Called Pacman the "man we had to get" and refered to George as a "starting Safety"

Said we lost MLJ by a whisker and only because he wanted to be a #1; the only thing we didn't offer.

Took LeFell because of versatility (slot and outside)

Called LaFell and Dansby "Bridge players"

Feels one of Dansby's roles is to mentor PJ Lawson,  Says team is high om PJ

Doesn't think the team believes WR is a must need

Honestly thinks we will go BPA at a premiere position at RD 1; even mentioned Zeke if he is there

Apparently a big Syracuse fan.

Well if they consider LaFell to be a bridge or stop-gap, but they don't view WR as a priority, then then all that means is they probably won't be going WR in round 1 unless they're really impressed with someone. I don't see any way they don't draft a WR, but it looks like LaFell will have a more prominent role in '16 than some people thought.

It's good to hear that the Bengals think LaFell can play slot and outside, as many people here seem to think LaFell is useless on the outside for whatever reason. As for the rest, it's good to hear that the coaches still like Dawson. I'll join others in saying I'd be disappointed if RB is our first round pick.

WR is not a need if the Bengals have the #1 run blocking unit in the NFL, they run it 65% of the time and A.J. Green and Tyler Eifert play 100% healthy for 16 games. If these are all true, we could actually survive with LaFell, Tate, Kumerow, Alford, Wright, Kroft, Hill, Gio and Burkhead.